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Chapter 2 presents a fuzzy-set analysis (fs/QCA) of fourteen West European countries during the 1990s. Comparing the extent of government involvement and the policy scope of social pacts, the chapter measures variation in the degree to which these countries relied on concertation as a mechanism of economic adjustment. The analysis of the necessary and sufficient conditions for pacts helps answer two key questions: why were pacts struck in some countries but not others; and second, is there more than one causal pathway behind these concerted agreements? The analysis reveals three pathways to...

Chapter 2 presents a fuzzy-set analysis (fs/QCA) of fourteen West European countries during the 1990s. Comparing the extent of government involvement and the policy scope of social pacts, the chapter measures variation in the degree to which these countries relied on concertation as a mechanism of economic adjustment. The analysis of the necessary and sufficient conditions for pacts helps answer two key questions: why were pacts struck in some countries but not others; and second, is there more than one causal pathway behind these concerted agreements? The analysis reveals three pathways to pacts and demonstrates that a high economic problem load generates pacts only when combined with particular political and institutional conditions, namely the prevalence of electorally weak governments and moderately strong unions.